Dan Martin has had a couple of costly spills in races he would have been expected to win or go very close to. And now he unfortunately has a couple of broken ribs.
Twelve months after his Giro d'Italia ended on the streets of Belfast with a broken collarbone after crashing on the opening team time trial, Dan Martin has been diagnosed with broken ribs.
However, the Cannondale-Garmin man has not suffered another fall. Instead, the injury was sustained when he crashed in Liège–Bastogne–Liège two weeks ago.
He went on to ride the Tour de Romandie and was well below par in that event.
He took to Twitter a couple of times during that race, which ended last weekend, to reveal he was in pain and was having trouble breathing.
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His problems were so acute that he had trouble gaining an aerodynamic position in the final time trial, as the photo below shows.
And he said he was simply pleased to finish; a sentiment rarely expressed by the world class Martin.
But following his troubled Romandie outing, where he finished in 104th place, 1 hour and 16 seconds down on winner Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha); an X-ray has revealed broken ribs.
It's not clear exactly how the injury will impact his riding, but it is bound to interfere with his racing and training programme, even if he did manage to get through Romandie.
Not looking too aero on the final stage 6 time trial at the Tour de Romandie last weekend, and now we know why (Photo: Sirotti)
The news comes as a blow for Martin, who not only crashed in Liège–Bastogne–Liège but also came down in the Fleche-Wallone classic a few days earlier.
Both were races he could have won and his inability to event contest the finales was a major disappointment for him and his team.
However, he still has almost two months to recover and fine tune his form for the Tour de France, which has more uphill finishes than usual that should suit him.
Last year a crash on the final corner at Liège robbed him of near certain victory and his Giro smash took him out for a prolonged period, including July's Tour de France.
But he bounced back in great style, taking 7th overall in the Vuelta and coming very close to winning stage 3 when he was pipped on the line by Michael Matthews (Orica Green Edge).
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He went on to win the Tour of Lombardy and bagged a stage in the Tour of Beijing; just missing out on overall victory when he finished 2nd.
He was also 3rd overall in the Tour de l’Ain, his first serious comeback race in preparation for the end of season run that brought him to 9th in the UCI rankings when the year was out. And he had taken 2nd in La Fleche Wallonne before his Giro crash.
Martin, his team and Irish fans will be hoping he can do the same this year and put behind him his testing period to date in 2015 in favour of a clearer run at the Tour de France and beyond.
Feeling really beaten up and struggling to breathe after LBL crash but hanging tough and helping the team. Close with @NathanPeterHaas today
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) April 29, 2015
Not exactly aero today. TT bike was impossible with my liege injuries. My worst GC result but very proud to finish pic.twitter.com/n8IwOehOmz
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) May 3, 2015
Turns out I rode Romandie with 2 broken ribs from my LBL crash. I thought it was painful #alessoninsuffering
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) May 5, 2015
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